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Crafts

The creativity of all peoples transforms their imagination into objects and images ...

... to be admired, browsed and used ... What are the traditional products from the Valle d'Aosta? Does a genuine recognisable MADE IN VDA exist? Yes, obviously: items resulting from original ideas are also in the Valle d’Aosta a point of arrival of a journey trhough time which, starting with the primordial need to make their own tools, ends in the merger of highly modern concepts, such as design, communicaiton and brand, through collections of images and experiences which represent the actual product symbolically. There are several benchmarks along this journey through the life of craftsmen and their skills, an ideal guide for those wishing to cross the huge open space of the Valle d'Aosta and reep its ripest fruits. Starting with the Sant'Orso Fair, an event that has been celebrated each year for over 1,000 years, which involves a truly charming event featuring craftsmen's workshops and a wide range of visitors: it is a genuine agora of local craftsmanship, where experience, toil and patience are mixed together for high quality products. Advertised by an artistic poster,

it is organised once a year, in winter, and it lasts for a couple of days and then… simply disappears, as though reabsorbed by the historic centre, in the magic of time suspended on the "bed" of the ancient city walls and with the comfort of a festive wake, brimming with music and flavours. The Fair is the major showcase of products and material wefts of a very long-standing tradition: a narration for works which speak the language of fabrics, of woodworking (lathe-work, sculpting and carving) and soapstone, of wicker, lace, and of the processing of wrought iron and of leather. Only recently, new, different materials are surfacing, in a nonetheless consistent canvas. This event is mirrored in summer in its "sister" event, the Foire d’été or summer fete, capable of winning itself over the last few decades its own portion of consent and attendance, also in virtue of the other event of the season, the Mostra-concorso or Exhibition-contest, which was devised as a competition among sculptors and which extended to other craftsmen, on

specific research themes. Behind each shop window, materials and arts which reveal them are tied to specific portions of the Valle d'Aosta territory, making up a patchwork of shapes, which mix together the historical and territorial components of the region. The physical aspect of the items speaks about the land that generated them, the tools about the exchange relationship with the said land, whereas the figures of people, animals and environments become sketches of daily life and of the future. The amalgam of skills-territory then set up a genuine dedicated itinerary for tourists, called the Route des Artisans or Craftsmen's Road, an imaginative trajectory along the trail of ateliers open to the public.

Valle d'Aosta Autonomous Region - Official site

Crafts